Throughout history, mental illness has changed dramatically in the government and its people’s eye. Back in the day, many people who were diagnosed with any type of mental illness would be institutionalized and much of the blame was taken by the parents. Nowadays, mental health is seen from many viewpoints and there are many different options for families to choose instead of simply instituting the mental ill patients. Not only are the mental ill patients effected by such disorders, but the family members play a huge part in deciding factors for the patients. If a supportive family is not in the picture, then it is a lot harder for one with such disorder to heal properly. Many caregivers even suffer from many types of stress such as emotional, …show more content…
Since the caregiver is spending all of their time taking care of their child or children and possibly even working outside of home, the caretaker has to be in great shape. Taking care of yourself while also taking care of a mental ill patient is very difficult, but very important. One of the most powerful types of physical strain is related to the amount of stigma and worry a family member has for the mental ill child (Lefley, H. P., 1996). Sleep and eating schedules for the caretaker often get off track as well and the lack of these two important activities in life can put a weight on the body. One of the best suggestions for taking care of yourself is to talk to your general doctor and possible see a therapist yourself to deal with the stress and worry in a healthy way. Likewise, another type of physical harm when dealing with a child with mental illness is the violence factor. The sicker a mental ill patient is, the more common it is for them to partake in violent actions, especially against a caretaker (Lefley, H. P., 1996). Many parents state that the best way to handle this type of situation is to avoid tension within the household. Also, it is very important as a family member to separate the violence from emotions and realize that the child is …show more content…
Obviously, when dealing with any sick family members you spend a lot of money from doctor visits. Usually when dealing with a mentally ill child, doctor visits are a lot more frequent than an average kid, which makes it more expensive each month or week the ill child has to check up with a doctor. Another major issue is timing. Since the caregiver is with the ill child most of the day, the caregiver has little or no time to work at a job to earn money (Tessler, R., & Gamache, G., 2000). It is especially an issue if the parent or caregiver is working alone. Many mental illnesses also require medications which cost additionally money when going to a doctor visit. Not only are patients with mental illness seeing doctors, but almost all have to see a type of therapist or psychologist as well. There visits are definitely not cheap and probably cost more than a doctor checkup visit alone. With all that being said, this does not include if the patient has to be institutionalized or hospitalized for a long period of time. Even if the government pays for some of the stay, the parents or caregivers still have plenty of money they have to take out of their
When a loved one has a mental illness, it can be a challenge for the whole family: parents, siblings, friends and relatives. Coping with a mentally challenged child "is a shared experience for families and can affect all aspects of family functioning" (Reichman, year, pp.). From the movie, the Grape family is not only ...
Mental illness often causes people to become handicapped and having to be committed to an institution that can properly care for them. If patients afflicted with mental illness do not receive proper care, their condition may worsen over time. As a result, the disease may further progress driving many sufferers to suicide.
Being educated and SES does not necessarily make them more open to mental health support. Although SES and family financial situation may be the most important deciding factors in seeking mental health support, they are not necessarily the primary reasons to opt out. Some rich families believe that it is prohibited to disclose concerns about the family member’s mental illness, as they see it as disease. The shame based in the culture where saving face/reputations in the community and family, not individuals, the self is not as
Although medical social workers have always played a role in helping loved ones adjust to significant illness in a family member and in securing needed resources to pay for medical care (Furstenberg & Olson, 1984), a new role for mental health professionals in the care of those afflicted with disease has emerged. D...
Families with a member suffering from any illness may be stressful enough but families with members diagnosed with schizophrenia are often faced with additional challenges such as the “external stressors of social stigma, isolation, and emotional frustration”. Many times, family conflicts arise as members attempt to provide care on an everyday basis (Chien, 2010, pg. xi). “A Beautiful Mind” is a brilliant motion picture directed by Ron Howard that chronicles the life of one John Nash, a prominent mathematician and the challenges he endures throughout his adult life afflicted with a chronic mental illness. “A Beautiful Mind” allows us to gain insight into the stressors that many families undergo when faced with living with a person with schizophrenia. This paper will explore the impact of schizophrenia on the lives of the Nash family as depicted in the aforementioned movie. Exploring the impact of the disease on the Nash family’s life will be followed with a discussion regarding an assessment conducted of the family, through the use of the Calgary Family Assessment model. Conducting the assessment allowed us to determine two nursing priorities, and nursing interventions in relation to them through the use of the Calgary intervention model. Essentially it becomes evident that the challenges faced by the Nash family are in the functional domain. The families inability to effectively communicate and problem solve becomes evident, which is negatively impacting the families ability to function effectively. Our nursing interventions guided by the Calgary Nursing Intervention Model will focus on providing the Nash family with the support needed to bring about change in the affective domain in foster effective communication with the famil...
Challenges due to poverty could be addressed by providing financial assistance, food, and clothing. Time spent with parents is essential when dealing with children who have behavioral issues because parents or guardians may not have the funds or time to spend with their children due to other obligations needed to support the family. Parents and guardians play a major role in helping children grow and develop to their fullest potential. As children grow, they depend on their parents or guardians for basic needs and support such as food, shelter, education, protection, and care. During their life difficulties and times of crisis, they depend on family for guidance. Mental disorders in childhood and adolescence can be chronic, require proper attention, help, and support from caregivers and teachers as well. Parents and guardians living with children with mental illness disorders have additional responsibilities and roles to care for them as they do for healthy children. The best way to help those families are to have them participate in their own income generating activities such as respite services or programs accepted by Medicaid where they receive counseling from social workers or other healthcare professional. Pelham et al. (2007) found that using a cost of illness (COI) framework examines the economic impact of ADHD in childhood and adolescences and identified studies; therefore, most conducted on existing databases by using diagnostic and medical procedure codes focused on health care costs. The costs were examined for ADHD treatment and other health care costs, education, parental work loss, and juvenile justice. According to Pelham et al. (2007), this incomplete evidence base estimated that annu...
A lot of the time parents and other family members center their attention on becoming knowledgeable about the the mental illness and look for resources to better help their loved one. Parents and family members may experiences others losses such as relationship or friendship loss or even financial loss as they learn how to help their child to deal with their mental disorder . A diagnosis of a mental disorder can impact the parents in several different ways. Particularly many parents who have a child diagnosed with a mental disorder, stress is a substantial impact for them. For instances, if a child is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the parents have to learn to to cope with the changes in moods and behaviors such as mood swings or tempers. The stress can put tension on a relationship with other family members like their spouse and their other children. It can also cause you to have problems at work because you are missing work on multiple occasions, as well as cause you to have less alone or self-care time. No matter what the mental disorder
There are so many types of mental illnesses that affect people every day. When some people think of mental illnesses they think of the ones that would cause people to have physical symptoms as well, but that’s untrue, there are many more that you would never know anyone has if you were to see them on the street. As defined by the 2008 encyclopedia “a mental illness is any disease of the mind or brain that seriously affects a person’s ability or behavior. Symptoms of a mental illness may include extreme moods, such as excessive sadness or anxiety, or a decreased ability to think clearly or remember well.” A mentally ill person has severe symptoms that damage the person’s ability to function in everyday activities and situations. Every nation and every economic level can be affected by a mental illness. In the United States alone about 3% of the population has severe mental illness and to add to that number about 40% of people will experience a type of mental illness at least once in their lives. Some cases of mental illnesses can go away on their own, but some cases are so severe that they require professional treatment. There is so much more available to help people recover from their symptoms than in the past.
“Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior” (Mayo Clinic). Mental disorders can happen many times through one’s life, but mental illness is classified as an ongoing problem with the symptoms that can affect the ability to perform normal day to day tasks (Mayo Clinic). Many people look at those afflicted with mental disorders as being crazy or clinically insane, while the reality is a problem many people live with on a daily basis with help from medications, psychologist visits, family, friends, help groups, and many other support systems. The lack of support available to mentally ill patients, the more that will refuse treatment and refuse to find help for their disorders. Many people who were born with mental disorders grow up knowing they have a problem, but people who develop them later in age don’t understand how to cope with it.
Why then is this area of healthcare both so expensive and common? One reason could be in the professionals in the field themselves. Mental health care professionals may request higher pay or more vacation time because “they deal with dangerous patients-although they have publicly proclaimed that mental illness is a disease like any other” (Sartorius). These professionals are supposed to advocate for their patients in society because of the stigmas surrounding them, yet these stigmas in turn allow them to ask for higher pay because society stereotypes their work as being extremely taxing. These facilities sometimes take advantage of the stereotypes of their work in the quality of care their patients receive as well. For example, the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Policy Coordinator, Michelle Funk, commented on the quality of care people with mental health disabilities receive. She says, “people in mental health facilities often are exposed to high levels of abuse and violence...Their living conditions are inhumane and the treatment they receive is degrading… people can be over medicated to keep them docile and easy to manage”
According to Szasz (2005), “In principle, the mental patient is considered competent (until proven [otherwise]). In practice, the client is regularly treated as if he were incompetent and the psychiatrist who asserts that he needs treatment is treated as if he were the patient’s guardian” (p.78). During the 1940’s patients who were mentally ill were considered “legally incompetent” when committed into a mental health facility. Relatives of the patients could release them by providing care in their homes for the client. Unfortunately, Szasz (2005) claims, that “the treatment of mental diseases is no more successful today than it was in the past” (p.78).
Direct costs such as medications and psychologist/therapist visits will add up to a pretty penny. Especially if you do not have insurance that will help cover your medical expenses. This financial trouble can cause more stress and more mental illness on someone. The indirect cost affects more of the productivity of work because of the mental illness. A lot of people are affected by their work effort when they have a certain mental illness; they could lose interest in work and stop showing up or caring about the
Those are the some reason: “Frequent medical appointments, absences from work, medication side-effects, and difficulty communicating or interacting with others, trouble concentrating, problems following a particular schedule, stigma, prejudice and discrimination” The video calls what is So Funny about Mental Illness? Presented by Ruby Wax on TED talks said that “How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy, except the brain?” When the person coughs or is bleeding everybody should pay attention and help them, but when they cannot see the illness or when it is about feeling people and society can be very insensitive and see it as a weakness or stigma. Not to mention, the stigma not only goes to the person with mental illness but also to their family members.
The importance of family and friends is critical in for mentally ill patients. This is especially true for women with low income (Ichiro Kawachi, Lisa F. Berkman, 2001). Promoting more counseling and support group can increase the quality of mental health because individuals are able to talk their problems and express themselves without any restraints. Home counseling for families with children under the age of five can help train parent to become more efficient parents by enhancing their interaction with their children to increase mental health for their children and by improving family and work balance. Senior also benefit from social interaction. Seniors are at risk for many mental illness because of social isolation, death of family member and loss of some rights like driving. So being able to talk to someone decreases their chances of developing
There should be a holistic approach to the treatment diagnosis and management of the people with mental illness. Such an approach should put into consideration the families of the people with mental illnesses and help them understand the issue. Once they understand, it is easier for them to welcome and help the individuals instead of sending them to institutions. To achieve prompt treatment, the mental health facilities and personnel need to be accessible and operate within the recommended standards.